Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility on Community Development in Bayelsa State

Abstract

The main essence of Corporate Social Responsibility is to improve the welfare of the members of the society. The proper implementation of CSR initiatives entail that organizations are not just driven by the quest for economic gain or a good reputation, but that they are deliberate with positively affecting the lives of the members of their host communities. The main objective of the study is to determine the impact of corporate social responsibility on host community development in Bayelsa state, Nigeria. The work adopts a survey design method and a structured questionnaire was used to collect data from respondents. The population of the study was three thousand four hundred and sixty-two (3,462) youth leaders from oil producing communities in the state. The questionnaires were distributed to four hundred and fifteen (415) respondents out of which three hundred and sixty-seven were duly returned. The data were analysed with SPSS v.23.The results indicated that the economic, social and environmental CSR provided by IOCs have no positive effect on community development. Therefore, there is the need for a re-evaluation of IOCs’ CSR projects to be in line with the core development challenges of the host communities.